Germany, Israel Announce New Strategic Cooperation During Chancellor’s Jerusalem Visit

Israel and Germany have agreed on the creation of new strategic cooperation, which will include a biannual dialogue on security and diplomatic matters. Israel’s Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz made the announcement on Wednesday afternoon in Jerusalem. “I think that this is a significant upgrade in our relations,” Bennett told reporters after his meeting with Scholtz. They reportedly discussed the war in Ukraine, the Iran nuclear talks in Vienna, and the new strategic partnership. Scholtz’s visit to Israel, his first since assuming the position of chancellor, comes in the midst of the Russo-Ukraine conflict and a day after Russian rockets struck the site in Ukraine of the Babi Yar massacre, where tens of thousands of Jews were massacred during the Holocaust. Scholtz shortened his scheduled visit due to the invasion. “The first stop on your visit to Israel, your first as chancellor of Germany, is also the most important. The Holocaust, the systematic annihilation of Jews, is the wound that forms the basis of ties between Germany and Israel. From this wound we have built significant and steadfast relations,” Bennett said at the Yad Vashem Holocaust center on Wednesday morning. Scholtz told Bennett, “Germany will always stand fast by Israel’s side.” Scholtz later met with Israel’s Foreign Minister Yair Lapid.